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Ã’ran Arras

Dòmhnall Ruadh Chorùna

ʼIllean, march at ease!
Righ na Sìth bhith mar ruinn
Aʼ dol chun na strì
ʼS chun na cill aig Arras;
‘Illean, march at ease!

Tha ʼnochd, oidhche Luain,
Teannadh suas ri faire,
Aʼ dol chun na h-uaigh
Far nach fhuasgʼlear barrall;
ʼIllean, march at ease!

Tillidh cuid dhinn slàn,
Cuid fo chràdh lann fala,
ʼS, mar a tha e ʼn dàn,
Roinn le bàs a dhʼfhanas;
ʼIllean, march at ease!

Gus ar tìr a dhìon,
Eadar liath is leanabh,
Mar dhaoin’ às an rian
Nì sinn ʼn sgian a tharraing;
ʼIllean, march at ease!

S lìonmhor fear is té
Tha ʼn tìr nan geug ʼnan caithris
Feitheamh ris an sgeul
Bhios aig a’ chléir ri aithris;
ʼIllean, march at ease!

Gura lìonmhor sùil
Shileas dlùth ʼs nach caidil
Nuair thig fios on Chrùn
Nach bi dùil ri’m balaich;
ʼIllean, march at ease!


Dòmhnall Ruadh Chorùna

Reproduced by permission of Comann Eachdraidh Uibhist a Tuath.

Tags:

Gaelic Gaelic soldiers Translations World War I

Translations of this Poem

The Song of Arras

Lads, march at ease!
The King of Peace be with us
Going to the strife
And to the tomb at Arras;
Lads, march at ease!

Tonight, Monday night,
Moving up to guard,
Going to the grave
Where no bootlace is untied;
Lads, march at ease!

Some of us will return unscathed,
Some in agony of bloody blade,
And, according to our fate,
Some in company of death will stay;
Lads, march at ease!

To defend our land,
From grey hairs to child,
Like men gone mad
We will draw the knife;
Lads, march at ease!

Many men and women
Lie awake in heroes’ land
Waiting for the news
That the clerk has to tell;
Lads, march at ease!

Many an eye will weep
Profusely without sleep
When word comes from the Crown
That their lads won’t be expected;
Lads, march at ease!

translated by Ronald Black

Source: from Beneath Troubled Skies: poems of Scotland at war, 1914-1918 (SPL/Polygon, 2015) Reproduced by permission of Ronald Black.
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Dòmhnall Ruadh Chorùna1887 - 1967

Donald MacDonald, or Dòmhnall Ruadh Chorùna, was the best-known of the Gaelic-language poets of the First World War.
More about Dòmhnall Ruadh Chorùna

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